Coming-of-age novels, or Bildungsromans, are part of a genre that focuses on the formative and transformative experiences of young people growing into adulthood. Though many coming-of-age novels include romance, they do not all focus on the sexual and romantic developments that young people often experience. Sunburn is specifically an LGBTQ+ coming-of-age novel that focuses on the lesbian romance between Lucy and Susannah, exploring how this romance informs Lucy’s development into adulthood. An early LGBTQ+ coming-of-age novel is Maurice by E. M. Forster. Forster’s work was published after his death, as he feared the stigma of publishing a gay novel. In some cases, authors obscure the LGBTQ+ elements of their texts to protect themselves, such as in W. Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage. The genre has expanded as the LGBTQ+ community has gained rights and protections, enabling more people to tell their stories without facing social repercussions.

The two primary differences that distinguish LGBTQ+ coming-of-age novels from broader coming-of-age novels are the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ people and the stigma surrounding LGBTQ+ discovery and life. LGBTQ+ scholars often note that the feelings, thoughts, and actions of gay characters and people are not simple reflections of their heterosexual counterparts, pushing back against assertions that a lesbian character like Lucy “feels the same way” about Susannah as a heterosexual character does in a heterosexual romance. Instead, critics encourage readers to understand and acknowledge the difference in the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people as expressed through literature. Additionally, unlike the classic “forbidden love” stories, such as Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the stigma surrounding LGBTQ+ romance is rooted in discrimination and bigotry, adding a threat to LGBTQ+ romances that often includes societal isolation and oppression.